The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1887-11-17
Getting Into The Army.

UelllnS lHlO iHc ATIHSs
Beaufain street, from King to Mazyck
street, looked yesterday morning very
much like the polls used to look in the
olden time prior to 1876 on election day.
1t was thronged with colored men who
seemed anxious to see or do something.
At the second floor window of the prem
ises No. 6, on the north side of the street,
staff was projected, from which hu.tered
the flag of our country. II was the new
recruiting rendezvous, which has been
established here under the command of
Lieut.. Hutton, and which will probably
be formally opened to-day. Whether
the crowd that assembled yesterday will
make haste to enlist or not remains to be
seen.
Lieut.. Hutton has with him a recruit
ing detail consisting of Sergt. Herman
Morgner and Privates Daniel Shields,
VIM. Meade and John Welby. He said
yesterday that all the paraphernalia of
the station had arrived except the eye
tests, which are certain printed cards by
means of which the eyesight of the
recruit can be tested as 10 the distance
they can see, &c. These tests were ex
pected yesterday but did not arrive.
The ouly applicants received yesterday
were several colored troopers who had
already served a term and been dis
charged and who seem to like army ,.fe
so much that they desire to return to it
after having had "run" in civil life for
year or so. Most of these applicants
came dressed up in the new army uni
forms that they received when discharged.
They had been through the process before
and were examined without much
trouble and only await the arrival of the
eye test cards to complete their examiua-
ton.
"It may be as we'll to stats," said
Lieut. Hutton to representative of the
Me,cs and Courier yesterday, "that it is
not as easy matter as q good many
people think it is to get into the regular
army. One of the reasons for establish
ing this rendezvous here, I am told, is
that the requirements of enlistment are
so high that the regular stations could
not furnish material enough to keep the
army up to the regulation standard. For
that reason this station was ordered to be
opened"
Then Lieut.. Hutton handed the Re-
porter kind of catechism very similar
to that which an applicant for an insu.
rance policy has to go through. 1t is
very searching, the questions going into
all the antecedents of the recruit, IS we'll
as those of his father and grandfathers,
and requiring the answering of some
very delicate and difficult questions.
Lieut.. Hutton went on to say that the
applicant for enlistment was first put
through this catechism, his answers
taken down and the report filed away.
If the embryo soldier passes through this
ordeal successfully he is turned over to
one of the recruiting staff, who conducts
him to room on the second floor, where
he is put through course of "ablution.
ary sprouts," so to speak. In other
words, he is scrubbed from the ground
up. Emerging from the bathroom,
leaving his old clothes and all other
clothes behind him, he is ushered into
the examining room very much in the
same state in which be was ushered into
the world.
Having undergone these examinations,
mental, physical and genealogical, the
recruit is conducted back to the bath.
room, where he is allowed to take anoth-
er bath if he so desires, and to resume
his outer shell. If he shall have passed
through successfully his papers are made
out, he is sworn in, neatly clad in the
livery of Uncle Sam, and st the proper
time is sent to a camp of instruction of
which there are several in the United
States, and there put through the A B G
of his military education. Having been
licked into something like shape, a pro.
cess which depends very much on the re-
cruit himself, he is finally drafted into a
regiment, and is known to the world
thereafter as Private X. Y. T., @ Com
pany, 18th United States infantry, artil-
lery or cavalry, as the case may be.
1t will be seen from the above that to
get into Uncle Sans army is somewhat
like the difficulties which, according to
the Scriptures, confront the millionaires
of this world on their journey to Paradise.
The light fingered gentry of the city, in
fact, need not apply. Of the crowd
which assembled in front of the new re.
cruiting station yesterday, and which
numbered several hundred, about two
would probably pass the examination.
Still, if any ablebodied, honest citizen,